jmcs23 10+ year member
Junior Member
Hello,
So I decided to test my voltage yesterday after dealing with dimming lights and the engine feeling sluggish sometimes while sitting idle with my music playing at loud volume levels.
Here's what I have hooked up in my 2003 Nissan Altima right now. It's my old equipment that I'm using until I can afford all new equipment:
- Amp: Kenwood KAC-729, running at 150 watts RMS x 2 at 2 ohms
- Subs: 2 Sony XS-L151P5
- Wiring: Raptor 4 AWG Power & Ground (I think this may be my problem??)
- Alternator is about 2 years old, I had shop put it in after stock alternator went bad
- Battery is Enegergizer brand I bought from Costco about 2 years ago
- NO big 3 has been done
Here's the voltage readings I was getting with my multimeter at the amp:
- 12.86 with car off and no music
- 14.13 with car on and no music
- Once I started turning the volume up to loud levels the voltage would drop down from anywhere between 13 volts to low 12 volts. When the voltage would drop you could feel it in the engine, it felt sluggish to say the least... If I kept turning the volume up, the amp would eventually go into protect mode I'm assuming because it wasn't getting enough voltage at that point.
I also hooked the multimeter up to the battery terminals while the car was off and got normal readings 12.5-12.8 and when I turned the car on with no music I also got normal reading there 13.8-14.8
I don't understand why that little Kenwood KAC-729 amp would put such a strain on my electrical system. I would hate to see what a "real" amp would do to it.
Since I'm using cheap power and ground wires (Raptor) I wanted to start by replacing those with some high quality brand name cables. Maybe that's the cause of this problem???
Any input or help is appreciated! Thanks!
So I decided to test my voltage yesterday after dealing with dimming lights and the engine feeling sluggish sometimes while sitting idle with my music playing at loud volume levels.
Here's what I have hooked up in my 2003 Nissan Altima right now. It's my old equipment that I'm using until I can afford all new equipment:
- Amp: Kenwood KAC-729, running at 150 watts RMS x 2 at 2 ohms
- Subs: 2 Sony XS-L151P5
- Wiring: Raptor 4 AWG Power & Ground (I think this may be my problem??)
- Alternator is about 2 years old, I had shop put it in after stock alternator went bad
- Battery is Enegergizer brand I bought from Costco about 2 years ago
- NO big 3 has been done
Here's the voltage readings I was getting with my multimeter at the amp:
- 12.86 with car off and no music
- 14.13 with car on and no music
- Once I started turning the volume up to loud levels the voltage would drop down from anywhere between 13 volts to low 12 volts. When the voltage would drop you could feel it in the engine, it felt sluggish to say the least... If I kept turning the volume up, the amp would eventually go into protect mode I'm assuming because it wasn't getting enough voltage at that point.
I also hooked the multimeter up to the battery terminals while the car was off and got normal readings 12.5-12.8 and when I turned the car on with no music I also got normal reading there 13.8-14.8
I don't understand why that little Kenwood KAC-729 amp would put such a strain on my electrical system. I would hate to see what a "real" amp would do to it.
Since I'm using cheap power and ground wires (Raptor) I wanted to start by replacing those with some high quality brand name cables. Maybe that's the cause of this problem???
Any input or help is appreciated! Thanks!